Conservation valve



April 25, 1933. T. A. FAGAN CONSERVATION VALVE Filed July 51', 1950 2Sheets-:Sheet 2 Patented Apr.25,1933 r 135%25 umrso THOMAS A. FAGAN, orDENVER, COLORADO t GONSERVATION'VALVE Application filed July 31, 1930.Serial No. 472,041.

This invention relates to conservation Figure 1 is a side elevation ofmy improved valves and has for an obj ect to provide a valveconservation valve, which may be used on pipe lines that carry Fig. 2 isa cross sectional view taken on the gas, steam, water, oil or air under"any degree line 2-2 of Figure 1, of pressure, and which willjautomatically Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional viewtaken '55 shut offthe flow of fluid to the pipe in case on the line 33 of Fig. 2, and ofemergency, such as where abreak occurs Fig. is a longitudinalsectionalView taken in the pipe or system of p'ipingconnected on the line 44 ofFigure 1. thereto, at a point beyond said valve. Referr n nowto th p y gdraw- A further obj ect'of the invention is to proings in'which likecharacters of reference desvid a, congervatign alv which will beenignat-e similar parts in the various views, tirely automatic inoperation, and will reesignates the valve housing havingathreadquire noattention, and will include a manued inlet 11 to receive an inlet pipe112 and ally operable valve and by-pass to equalize having a threadedoutlet 13, to receive an 7 5 the pressure on opposite sides of the swingoutlet pipe 14. The housing is provided with 65 valve in the pipe so asto move the controla removableannular seat 15 which is maling piston toopen the valve after a break chmed to present a true surface and which hs b i d p is disposed at an oblique angle to the axis A further obj ectof the invention is to pro- 9f t e housing. The seat may be, threaded tvide an extremely simple device in which the lnto'the'housing ,orpressed thereinto as deswing valve in the pipe and the controllingsired. The inletand the outlet of thehouspiston will be operativelyconnected by a lng may be threaded or flanged according novel walkingbeam structure which connects to the size of pipe to which the device isto the piston and swing valve for movement be applied. r

as a unit, thus dispensing with weights and A flat gate or swing valve17 is fixed by other operating devices which in practice means of ascrew 18 to a Swinging arm 19- are liable to cause trouble. which. iscarried by a shaft 20. The shaft is A further object of the invention ito pro- 1ournaled in a transverse bearing 21 carried .vide the walkingbeam structure of the valve by he housing, as best shown in Fig. 2, and

0 with an adjustable supporting post which the ends of the shaft extendexteriorly of 89 permits of the piston being accurately seated theusing. Gland nuts 22 are preferably in the top of its cylinder in anannular seat mounted the ends Ofthe S f and ar whereby leakage past thepiston is pr t d threaded into the ends of the bearlng so as to A stillfurther object of the invention is to prevehtletthage 0t h g P h Sprovide a conservation valve which will be The swlhg Valve 17 ofSutficlent dmmeter 85 formed of a few strong and durable parts to t t hth h which are inexpensive to manufacture and when closed assumes p tposltlon Wlth which will not easily get out of Order. respect to thelongitudinal aX1s of the housp t shown in Fi 1. The valve may With theabove and other ob ects in view hes g the invention consists in certainnovel debe removed elther through the Inlet or .7 through the top of thehousing. tall: l g fi a hg g f, A cylinder 23 is provided with a reducedS d er u y fiscn e F tubular neck 24 which is screwed into an inclaimed,it being understood that a teriorly threaded socket 25 formed in themodifications may be resorted to within the valve housing. The bore ofthe socket is re- Shop6 of the pp eta-11h Wlthoht p duced' to provide astop shoulder26 against from the Splrlt satrlficlhghhy of the which theneck of the cylinder bears, as best advantages o the lnventlon- 1 shownin" Fig. 3. Th top of the cylinder In the accompany ng drawlngs formingis open. An annular seat27 is disposed in part of this specification: rthe top of the cylinder and is held firmly in place by a cap 28 which isthreaded onto the top of the cylinder. Both the seat and the cap areprovided with axial openings 29 and 30 which vent the cylinder to theatmosphere.

Disposed within the cylinder 23 is a piston 31, the same being providedin the head thereof with a beveled surface 32 which is adapted to seatsnugly against a corresponding beveled surface on the annular seat 27 inthe top of the cylinder and prevent leakage of gas or fluid past thepiston. The piston is provided with a piston rod 33 which projectsupwardly through the registering openings 29 and 30 in the annular seatand cap of the piston cylinder.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 4, it will be seen that a by-pass 34 isdisposed longitudinally of the valve housing, one end of the by-passopening into the housing near the outlet end thereof and the oppositeend of the by-pass extending upwardly along the V inlet end of the valvehousing and opening into the bore of the above mentioned socket 25. Whenthe swing valve 17 is open, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, it beingassumed that pressure on both sides of the valve is equalized, thepressure against the piston 31 will be the same as in the pipe line andvalve housing whereby the piston is held seated snugly in the top of thecylinder.

A walking beam structure is provided to operatively connect the swingvalve 17 and piston 31 to move as a unit. The walking beam structurecomprises a supporting post 35' which is threaded at one end intoaflanged nut 36,. as bestshown in Figs. 1 and 3, said nut being threadedinto an opening 37 formed in the valve housing.

The beam lever 38 is pivoted intermediate the ends to a fulcrum block 39by means of a pivot pin 40. The fulcrum block is provided with a stem 41which enters the bore of the tubular post 35 and is removably secured tothe post by means of a pin 42. 7

One end of the beam lever 38'is pivotally connected to the piston rod 33by means of a link 43 so that movement of the lever will be communicatedto the piston without binding of the parts. The opposite end of the beamlever 38- is connected by means of a forked link 44 to the abovementioned-shaft 20, the branches of the fork being pivotally connectedto short lever arms 45 which are rigidly secured to the projecting endsof said shaft 20.

It will be here observed that by rotating the threaded post 35 and nut36 relatively to each other the height of the post 35 may be varied foradjusting the piston to accurately seat in the annular seat 27.

By again referring to Fig. 4, it will be seen that the valve housing 10is provided with a by-pass 46 which is disposed parallel with theby-pass 34 and on the opposite side of the u ing therefrom. Oneend ofthe into the by-pass against a seat 49 to normally close the by-pass. Agland nut 50 is carried by the valve and threaded into the wall of theby-pass to prevent leakage of gas or fluid past the valve.

In operation, when the system is charged and in its normal condition,the swing-Valve 17 stands in its opened position, as indicated by dottedlines in Fig. 3. The fluid or gas under pressure on the outlet side ofthe 7 Valve housing passes through the bypass 34 and into the cylinder23 where it acts on the piston 31 to hold the walking beam structure inposition .to maintain the swing valve open.

If a break should occur in the outlet pipe 14 or its connections, or iffor any other reason the pressure in the outlet pipe at the point wherethe pipe is attached diminishes to such a. degree that, actin-gin thecylinder 2'3on the piston 31, it is insuflicient to overcome the weightof the swing valve 17 which, as shown in Fig. 3, is normally held ininclined position, the piston descends. walking beam structure thereuponstarts to close the valve 17 and pressure on the inlet side of the valvecompletes the closing movement to seat thevalve on the valve seat 15 inthe housing. Further discharge of the fluid or gas, which may be bothwasteful and dangerous, is thereby stopped.

When the device has been automatically closed and it is desired to openthe swing valve 17 to its normal'position, the valve 47 is manuallyopened. Thereupon, the fluid from the inlet side of the swing valve willflow through the by-pa-ss 46 to the other side of the valve where itwill again build up the pressure, and as soon as this pressure acting onthe piston 31 is suflicient to overcome the weight of the swing valve,the swing valve is automatically opened. The manually operated valve 47in the by-pass may then be closed. v 7

Having thus described the invention, I claim The combination with avalve housing, a swing valve pivoted at the top therein and closing inthe direction of flow, a crank for operating the valve, a by-passconduit in the housing laterally of the valve and a piston operated bypressure in the by-pass, of acap closing a hand opening formed in thehousing above the valve, a post adjustable at the bottom on said cap, awalking beam carried by the top of the post, a link connecting-one Theend of the walking beam with said crank, a pair of links pivotallyconnected together and connecting the other end of said Walking beamwith said piston, a cylinder for the piston, and an annular seatadjustably mounted in the end of the cylinder, the piston and the seatbeing tapered to provide tight seating of the piston for sealing theby-pass when said Vave is open, adjustment of said post and of said seatrelative to each other permitting said piston accurately seating in saidseat whereby leakage past the piston when said Valve is open ispositively prevented.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

THOMAS A. FAGAN. [1 s.]

